Ghost Recon
by kidstandout
Summary: after leafa decides to take another break from her sylph responsibilities, recon feels left out and decides to move on to other vrmmos. But when leafa returns only to find that he's gone, her perspective on him starts to change.
1. Alpha

**Part One: Alpha**

"Finally, I made it!"

Recon made it to the capital of sylph territory, Swilvane, with his excitement barely contained. Today is Leafa's first day back with the sylphs. It had been a while since the last time he had seen her, the occasion in particular wasn't a very happy time. After all of the ALO players gathered for Zekken's final login and the subsequent funeral, Leafa had requested a short leave of absence to help her brother support Asuna while she grieved.

He hoped Leafa was feeling better after her week away, but if she wasn't, he'll be there to make her smile… or get hit by her until she does. Recon was going to make today count…

As he walked into the Swilvane conference building, Recon greeted the guards at the entrance as he made his way to Lord Sakuya's chamber. After being the one to uncover the assassination plot, Recon was now promoted to Sakuya's chief adviser, the role formerly occupied by the traitor Sigurd.

Upon arrival, Recon firmly knocked on door.

"Requesting permission to enter."

"Granted."

As he entered, Recon was greeted by the site of Sakuya hard at work on her desk. She was looking over the drafts regarding the trade negotiations with the salamanders. It's funny really; no one would have thought all it took to get the greens and reds to play nice was the intervention of a black coat. But after witnessing Kirito and his group of multi-raced friends accomplish so much, it inspired all of ALO to blur the borderlines.

"Ah, Recon I've been expecting you. How's the status of the convoy?"

"They have safely returned from Salamander territory, General Eugene sends his regards. I have to say I'm still not used to you two being on such pleasant speaking terms."

"You're telling me! This whole peace between us and the salamanders is too surreal. Prior to the treaty, the only way we could converse is through combat. Now I'm having a hard time understanding how we have so much in common. And it doesn't hurt that their general is surprisingly level headed, and charming…"

"Ahem…Speaking of charming, do you know when Leafa will be reporting today? I tried to get a hold of her IRL but she hasn't responded to my texts."

"Oh… she didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me what?"

Recon didn't like where this was going…

"She requested an extension to her leave of absence, won't be back for another two weeks at the earliest."

"What?! Why?"

"Said she was busy with Kirito and their friends. Besides, Leafa accrued so much off time with how much time she has put in for us; She deserves it."

Suddenly Recon's expression fell. Noticing his change in demeanor, Sakuya pushes the envelope

"Recon, what is the matter?"

"It's nothing; I have to go over some reports."

"Okay, but if you ever want to talk, I'm here. I've come to think of you as a little brother you know."

"I appreciate the sentiment; good day my lord."

"Good day!"

* * *

'_It's not fair.'_

It had been a rough couple of days for Nagata. What he hadn't told Sakuya that day was that his window for hanging out with Suguha was closing. With junior high coming to an end and the uncertainty of whether or not they would end up in the same high school (he would have just asked, but that wouldn't help remove the stalker vibe) Nagata had been banking on making the most of playing ALO with her. But of course life had other plans.

'_Please respond.'_

Sitting in his room bored, He had been hoping Suguha would have seen his texts. He was beginning to lose hope until his phone suddenly rang.

'_Stop bugging me, I'll be back on ALO soon.'_

And as Nagata read that off the screen of his phone, his resolve finally crumbled. He threw his phone against the wall so hard that if not for the thick plastic case it was in, he'd be out 200 bucks.

He wasn't angry at Suguha.

Nagata knew what he signed up for. If anything he was angry at himself for believing he could be anything more than her ALO buddy. But for some reason he allowed himself to believe otherwise.

"Nagata-kun, are you okay?"

As his mom peeped into her son's room, Nagata just couldn't bring himself to talk.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He tried to say no, But Nagata's resolve was at its end. He could no longer hold back his tears.

"I should have known better. I wanted to believe she would come around, that if I stayed by her side long enough, things would be different. But it wasn't."

"Tell me what happened."

As he went over how he met Suguha, and how their interactions went, it became abundantly clear to his mom what the problem was. Whether or not her son wants to hear it was another story.

"Nagata-kun, it sounds like you're doing things for the wrong reasons."

"I don't understand."

"One of the toughest things I had to learn at your age was how to love yourself. I found myself being unhappy because things weren't going my way and was always doubting myself. But when I had met your father, I couldn't understand how he always seemed so happy despite growing up with so little. He made me realize that changing your life starts with you. You need to be content with who you are and love yourself before you pursue someone else."

"Okay."

"Dinner will be ready soon, feel better okay?"

"Yes, and thanks mom."

* * *

Nagata signed to ALO and spawned in a neutral forest just outside sylph territory. But as he was about to head for the capital, he thought about what his mom said.

The only reason he got into ALO was because of Suguha, and while he did genuinely enjoy the game, Nagata realized that he needed a change.

So he sent Lord Sakuya an in game message and signed out.

When he got to his room, Nagata decided to browse the latest games on his mist account. Under the sales section several popular vrmmo's had discounted sales, but the one that had peaked his interest was a game called Gun Gale Online. It was so different from what he was used too, but at the same time just what he was looking for.

So after begging his mom to deduct the cost of the game out of his allowance in exchange for her credit card, he got the game and uploaded it to his amusphere before diving in.

"Link start!"

Upon arriving at the new player setup, Nagata was about to covert his account when something dawned on him.

If he converted his account, he would disappear from Suguha's friend list in ALO.

'_I can't think about that now.'_

As the system generated his in game avatar, Nagata was transported to the central hub. He found himself with the same green hair from ALO but had on a green camo military uniform with boots to spare.

'_Okay, I need a quick way of making credits.'_

Recon walked into the local armory and decided to ask around and see if anyone could help him out.

The first guy he asked, a player with red hair and extensive armor, suggested he'd try his luck gambling. But after getting a look at the "untouchable" machine, he decided gambling wasn't for him

A second player, a female shotguner with violet hair suggested he take a look at the mercenary board.

Upon looking at the listings, he found several jobs with a payout of at least 20k.

'_Let's see here. A request for a sixth man to do a monster raid, nope. A request for a spare gun to do an ambush, meh. Huh, a request for a spotter scout, binoculars provided! I could do that.'_

The instructions for the listing said for him to meet the sniper at the scope and optics shop at 1600 hours, which means he had 15 minutes to haul over there.

* * *

Upon arrival to the aforementioned area, Nagata was met by the sight of a squad that looked like they were packing some serious fire-power.

"Hey… are you the ones looking for a scout?"

"Who wants to know?"

The guy asking Nagata that had on a domino mask like goggles resting under a brown Mohawk with a sketchy smile plastered on his face that just says trouble.

Before he could answer, the guy was held back by another member of the group. She had Light blue hair and while her clothes says playtime, the massive sniper rifle on her back says business.

"Don't mind Ginrou, he grows on you, don't ask me why though. I'm Sinon and this is my squad. We're looking for a temporary scout while our guy is out. Do you have any experience in reconnaissance?"

"Not in this game, I just started playing. But in another vrmmo, I've done plenty of tracking and spy work."

"Define spy work."

Nagata went over how he uncovered Sigurd's plot back ALO, minus the names since he still wasn't too trusting of these guys just yet. The thought had occurred to him they could be ambushing him, but this girl was giving him a good vibe.

"Okay, we'll start you out with 5k upfront and 30k over the next week."

"That sounds great! When do I start?"

"Right now, pick out a pair of binoculars. You'll be working me. Dyne, I want you taking point. Let's get moving."

"Roger that."

And just like that, Nagata found himself with a new group heading for a mission.

* * *

3 days of taking on humanoid monster raids and ambushing enemy squads provided Nagata with the most fun and excitement he's had in quite some time. The fact that he made actual IRL money doing so made the experience that much sweeter.

His position as the squad's scout came easy. Despite the equipment being more physical and less magic based, Nagata efficiently spotted targets and gather sufficient Intel that allowed Sinon to make coordinated attacks to great effect.

'_It's too bad I'll be back on my own in a couple days.'_

Nagata signed on to GGO and noticed he had an in game message. Sinon instructed him to meet up with the group at the armory for an important meeting in room 5b.

He wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe their normal guy is already back and they're cutting his run short.

'_Think positive, it's probably nothing.'_

As he made his way from the dark, cyberpunk styled streets into the hi-tech arms facility, Nagata kept finding it hard not to expect the worse. But as he entered the room and met with the words surprise ringing his ear drums, Nagata fears were quelled.

"Whoa, what's going on?"

"Congratulations kid, you passed the test with flying colors!'

As Dyne said this, Ginrou made him jolt with a pat on the back.

"I don't get it, what test are you guys talking about?"

"The job we posted was our way of testing if you are a proper fit for the squad. And after how well we've seen you perform, we want you to be a full time member."

As Sinon announced this, Nagata lit up with excitement. He couldn't believe what was going on.

"This means you'll be spending a lot more time with your favorite sniper."

"Which will already be more time Ginrou spends with any girl in RL period."

As the group burst into laughter at Dyne's burn at Ginrou's expense, Nagata couldn't have felt more welcome. He felt like he was with friends and not coworkers, which was how he used to feel around Suguha and Sakuya in ALO, but those days were in the past.

"So what do you say Recon?"

"I say you got yourselves a scout!"

"Perfect! As an extra way of saying thank you, pick out some new gear and we'll cover it."

At this rate, Nagata might never go back to playing ALO.

**A/N- so for those of you who read my previous story 'how fools fall in love', while this is not a continuation of it, it's in the same vein. One of the reviews on that story inspired me to come up with a story to give recon more depth to justify the pairing and alas here we are. This will be a 3 part mini so stay tuned. I'll get working on part 2 as early as tomorrow.**


	2. Beta

**Part 2: Beta**

_1 week later…_

"This is Ghost checking in. I have eyes on the target. He just entered what appears to be the enemy compound about a click east of my current position. Standing by for further instructions."

"This is Longshot over. I have eyes on you half a click away from your current position. Eliminate the target and proceed with haste; once the target is KIA, tangos will be notified shortly. You're working with a tight window here Ghost. Good hunting"

"Roger that."

Thanks to a new update in GGO, players could now place legitimate bounties on other players. The bounty could be for capturing a player or killing them. The leaderboard for this feature, called the hit list, stated who had the highest bounties on their heads, who successfully collected the most/highest bounties as well as their rate of success, and who had the most successful pk's.

So how does all this explain the situation Recon is currently in? Well it just so happens that this feature heavily favors Stealth types who are relatively unknown in GGO.

Since most players know about the former BOB champion, Sinon, she was a high target for anyone trying to prove themselves. This was especially the case for disgruntled BOB finalists she beat.

So Sinon decided to use Recon's scout abilities as the perfect counter measure. The hit list states who accepts the bounty as well as who places them. So Sinon would provide the Intel to Recon and would give him a reasonably small payout to make the hit a legitimately recognized bounty.

Thanks to the numerous big shots looking to show what they got on her expense, Recon quickly climbed up the hit list in most PK's, earning him the nicknames "ghost" and "the green fairy" on the count of him being undetectable.

A large part of that having to do with his gear. He had a custom green meta-material optic distortion cloak similar to the one death gun had, with a silenced five seven. But his weapons of choice are a commando combat knife and the assortment of throwing knives on his person. Nice and quiet was how he liked it.

Recon quietly made his way into the compound located in the middle of a ghost town covered under the blanket of the sunset sky. With the cloak active, the rifleman on the roof had no way of seeing him slip into the run down hotel through a window on the side. Once inside, he listened in on the chatter coming from outside the bedroom Recon was in.

"I'll be in my quarters guys, no interruptions and keep your eyes open."

"Yes Sir!"

'_Hmm... His quarters would most likely be the penthouse one level below the roof. I'm going to need to get rid of the lighting between here and there.'_

He picked up a butter knife from the floor and spat on it before shoving it inside a nearby outlet, causing all the lights on his floor to fail. As the guards scattered to find the source of the outage, he walked right past them to the staircase.

After a lengthy climb, he made it to the penthouse level and discovered his intuitions were correct; the target's avatar was asleep as they clearly had logged off.

'_So easy, it's not even fair.'_

* * *

"Man that picnic was so much fun Oni-Chan!"

"Yeah Sugu, it's nice when we get to hang out with the whole group."

"It's a shame we're all going to be so busy these next few weeks. I can't wait for school to be over."

"Don't we'll still see each other on ALO after me and the gang finish finals."

"Oh that reminds me, I'm going to dive in. I've got a lot of checking up to do with the sylphs."

"Alright then."

It had been a fun couple of days for Suguha. She found herself getting closer to her brother Kazuto's friends every minute they spent together. Asuna, Silica and even Klein had asked her for to give them kendo lessons hoping to gain some sort of edge in ALO, though she had to explain to them that the key was practice. Shino had been giving her and Rika pointers on aim and hand eye coordination, which especially came in handy when they decided to play paintball. That in itself was a big step for Shino and Suguha was glad to be there for it.

'_Hopefully nothing too crazy went down while I was away.'_

After changing into some comfortable sleepwear, Suguha rested on her bed and put on her amusphere.

"Link Start!"

Once she successfully spawned in a village just outside of the sylph capital as her avatar, Leafa, she checked her message box.

'_Let's see here, I have one message from Lady Sakuya, it's probably just a report of recent activities.'_

On the contrary, the message said for her to report to Lady Sakuya's quarters immediately. Whatever is going on seemed to be an urgent matter.

* * *

"Sakuya-San, may I enter?"

"Leafa-Chan! Hold on… Ok come in."

If Leafa didn't know better, it sounded like Sakuya was in a hurry to hide something…

"Leafa-Chan, it's great to see you."

"Great to see you too Sakuya-san. Are you okay? You seem very flushed."

"Oh I'm fine; it's just stuffy in here."

"I got your message, what's the urgency? Did something happen with the Salamanders?"

"No! Everything is fine with him."

"Him?"

"I mean them!"

"Ok… then what's the problem?"

"Have you heard from Recon?"

Funny enough Leafa was wondering why she has yet to run into him yet. She was fully expecting him to be waiting for her at the entrance like an anxious puppy.

"Haven't heard from him since I took a break, he texted me about a week ago** (A/N-damn you bobby smurda lol)**, but it was probably nothing."

"I'm not so sure. I got an in-game message from him ten days ago; you might want to take a look at it."

Sakuya pulled up the message and showed it Leafa.

'_Due to unforeseen circumstances, I'm stepping away from ALO indefinitely. I understand if you decide to elect a new adviser during my absence and I'm sorry for the trouble. I'm just not in the right place right now. Best of luck-Recon.'_

"Oh my…"

"There's more, check to see if he's on your friend list."

Upon doing so, she notices that Recon wasn't there. Something very concerning was going on.

"I know you two are friends IRL so I was wondering if you knew what this was about."

"Your guess is as good as mine, we're actually just schoolmates. I don't actually talk much too the guy outside of ALO."

"I see… well if you run into him, tell him that I hope he gets through whatever is plaguing him and that he'll always be welcome to come back. He's such a sweet kid"

"Yeah... I'll see if I can to the bottom of it."

"Okay then, I'll see you later then."

As she waved Lady Sakuya off, a dozen thoughts raced through Leafa's mind.

'_What could have happened to Recon that would make him quit ALO?'_

Eager to get to the bottom of this, Leafa decided to logout. Upon waking up on her bed, she scrambled to her phone and checked her messages.

The last message she had received from him was ten days ago, coincidentally 3 hours from when he sent Sakuya his resignation; He said he needed to see her. Remembering what she sent him in response, Suguha suddenly got a terrible feeling.

"No… he wouldn't…"

She decided to call Nagata, half expecting him to screech her name upon picking up. But surprisingly, he didn't answer. She couldn't recall a time where he didn't respond right away, if there was one thing about him she knew best, it's that we always there for her…

'_Maybe he's asleep. This is probably nothing…'_

After trying again to no avail, she decided to talk to him at school. Whatever was going on couldn't be that bad, so why did Leafa have a bad feeling in the back of her head.

* * *

The next day, Suguha arrived at school at her usual time for kendo practice. She kept her eye on the front gate, hoping to find Nagata waiting for her as usual. But once again he was a no-show.

'_Relax Suguha, he's probably fine.'_

Suguha kept telling herself this, but as she got into her morning warm ups at the dojo, she was becoming more and more worried about him.

Her next opportunity to see him was at her locker. They would always meet up before homeroom since their lockers were in the same hallway. But once again, she didn't see him.

'_Maybe he didn't come to school today…'_

She decided to ask one of her classmate if they had seen him.

"Hey Shidori-kun, have you seen shiniki-kun at all today?"

Shidori was a member of the tech-club, which Nagata was also a part of. They both also had the same homeroom class.

"Yeah, he's here today. Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing, I just haven't seen him."

"Don't tell me you finally got wise and grew a soft spot for him."

"What! NO! He just said he has something important to talk about."

"He's probably going to propose."

"My kendo is right next to me, you do realize that right?"

"Relax… if I run into him I'll tell shiniki-kun you're looking for him."

"Thanks."

* * *

Later that day, she hoped to see him during their lunch period particularly because he acted as a shield against any other boy who had the urge to ask her out.

If there was one plus about the whole school thinking they're an item, it warded off the boob hungry pigs who came drooling after her.

But with him once again nowhere to be seen, she was in for a long lunch period.

"Hey Suguha, you doing anything this Friday?"

"Hey Suguha-Chan, if you're not still with that loser, we should hang out some time."

"Suguha, notice me senpai!"

Its times like these she wished she hadn't developed so early.

After quickly wolfing down her lunch, she run out of the lunch room, hoping to get away from the horde. Not paying attention to where she was going, she ended up bumping into someone, causing both of them both to tumble to the floor.

"Ouch."

"Sorry I should have looked where I was going… Nagata-kun!"

Things always happened to her when she least expects them to. But she was so glad to see him.

"Nagata-kun, I tried calling and texting you as soon as I got back. What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…"

Something about him seemed off. He didn't sound like his old upbeat self. In fact his response seemed rather cold.

"I heard from Sakuya-san about your message, why are you leaving ALO? And why did you clear your friends list?"

"I'm surprised you even noticed that."

Maybe she was imagining things, but was Suguha sensing a bit of resentment?

"What do you mean? What's going on with you?"

"I just need some space right now... I'm going through some personal problems and being in ALO wasn't helping. So I decided to check out a new vrmmo and converted my account. Nothing major okay."

"Oh… well do you wan't to talk about it? there was something you wanted to tell me right?"

He took a second to gather his thoughts.

"Never mind that, i just need some space."

Had not the bell rang, signaling that the next period was about to start, Nagata would have seen the look of utter shock on her face.

"I got to go, see you around."

As he scurried of, she was still trying to process exactly what just happened.

_'Did he… did he just give me the cold shoulder?'_

Suguha found herself on the other end of this scenario for the first time, and she did not enjoy it.

**A/N- gotta give my boy nagata a backbone for this to work. Happy new years**


	3. Delta

**Part 3: Delta**

"So he might not come back at all?"

"Yeah, between what he told me and the fact that he's been blowing me off I don't think we'll be hearing from Recon anymore."

After Leafa told Sakuya what went down in school earlier, the latter was truly at a loss. The actions Leafa described did not sound like Recon one bit. But the look of sadness on her subordinate's face gave her deja-vu. She remembered seeing this same face from Recon the last time they spoke.

"It can't be helped, all we can do now is move on and hope for the best."

"Agreed Sakuya-san."

"In the meantime, I'd like you assist in the clearing of the neutral forest bordering our territory. I've been getting reports of our npc merchants are being attacked by low level field bosses."

"Roger!"

"And Leafa, he'll be back; I just know it!"

"Yeah…"

* * *

Leafa decided to swing by Asuna and Kirito's cabin to see if anyone wanted to accompany her on her appointed task. Having them tag along would surely help take her mind off things.

"Hello, is anyone home?"

Leafa made her way to the living room hoping to find the gang on the couch. But all she found was a note on the table.

_-we're meeting up to study IRL for finals coming up at cram school so take care of the cabin while we're away. And don't bring any boys over. That means your boyfriend recon_

_-Kirito._

"Seriously oni-chan!"

As a frustrated sigh escaped her lips, Leafa sat on the couch and pondered about her current situation.

If Recon was still around, he would have been the first one to assist her right now. He may have trouble keeping up with her in both flight and combat, but Recon was dedicated to being by her side.

Looking back on all those adventures they went on before her brother was released from the hell that was SAO, Leafa realized that she wouldn't have made it through those two years had not Recon introduced her to ALO.

_'I guess it's true; something's aren't appreciated until you lose them.'_

* * *

After clearing the northern neutral forest, Suguha had logged out of ALO. Upon waking up she decided to text Nagata-kun.

_'Hey we need to talk.'_

Suguha would end up spending the next 20 minutes checking her phone repeatedly. The longer this continued, the more she realized how he must have felt all those times she ignored him.

And that's when she remembered what he said to her once.

_"You can't cry. If you aren't smiling, you aren't really Leafa-chan. I'll always stay with you."_

But right now she couldn't smile; she couldn't hold back her tears because he wasn't there. Once again she was being pushed away, only this time it had been all her fault.

However, this time she was not going to idlely stand by.

_'I'm going to get through to you Nagata-kun, one way or another.'_

* * *

When the bell on the door rang as it swung open, Agil was alerted that he had a customer.

"Welcome to the dicey caf…. Suguha-Chan? What are you doing here?"

"Hey Agil, I just decided to swing by here and grab some coffee before I head to school today. How is business?"

"Peaceful and slow, but not too slow. How do you want your coffee?"

"With milk and two sugars please."

"Coming right up!"

As Suguha sat on one of the stools in front of the bar, suddenly the front door swung open once more.

"Agil, are you open?"

"Yeah, he's in the ba… Shino?"

"Suguha? How have you been?"

"I'm fine. How's the study group been going?"

"Just fine, I think your brother and the others will do just fine today. We went over everything so they should be ready."

"That's good to hear."

"Agil let me get a coffee; black and two sugars please."

"Coming right up!"

After Agil came back and handed them their beverages, the three of them sat and conversed some more.

"Can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure."

"Shoot."

"Say I wanted to find out what game a friend is playing without asking them, how would I go about doing that."

"Well if you have them as a friend on the amusphere, you should be able to see what game they're playing, right Shino?"

"Yup, it's as simple as that."

"That's the thing. My friend and I had a falling out and after he converted into another vrmmo, he's not on my friends list. It's weird; this reminds me of the time Kazuto converted into GGO. But who I'm looking for wouldn't end up there."

"I'm not so sure about that, GGO is one of the few vrmmo's that imposes such strict converting parameters. And the friend list restriction is unique to GGO. Whoever you're looking for most likely ended up in GGO or doesn't want to talk to you."

"Who is your friend anyway?"

With Agil's question peeking Shino's curiosity, Suguha found herself cornered.

"His name is Shinichi Nagata; he's a friend from my school. His avatar name is Recon."

"Wait, did you say Recon!"

"Yeah, why? Have you heard of him?"

"There's a guy in my squad with the same avatar name. Though recon is a pretty generic name in GGO, most scouts have some variation of that name or something similar so it might not be the same guy."

"What did he look like?"

"He's about your height, green hair and wears a green cloak with black trim."

"That has to be him! Can you reach out to him for me Shino?"

"That's going to be hard; he's currently on the run in GGO. Your boy is quite the assassin. But I can do the next best thing. Come to my place after school."

As the two girls made plans to go on a search party, Agil couldn't help but feel nostalgic. Once again, a Kirigaya would venture into the virtual world for their significant other…

* * *

Shino's doorbell rang, waking her from the nap that she was taking.

"Shino, it's me. Open up!"

"Coming."

She got up from her bed and put on her glasses before answering the door. Standing on the other side of the door was Kirigaya Suguha. She was ready as ever to begin their journey into GGO.

Suguha didn't see Nagata at school today. According to Midori, he didn't show up for homeroom so he probably cut school, which was weird since most people who cut the last day of school did so to hang out with their friends.

"Did you bring your gear Sugu-chan?"

"Yup, my amusphere is in my bag. So what's the plan?"

"With us diving in the same proximity, the odds of us spawning closer to each other increase. Once we're in, I'll contact my squad and see if they have a fix on his 20."

"His what?"

"His Location."

"Oh okay, let's get started then."

"Alright, but before we do I've been meaning to ask. Is he really your boyfriend?"

"What? No….Kazuto told you that didn't he?"

"Yeah ha-ha."

"I'm so going to kill him later. Nagata is a good friend of mine; I just didn't realize it until recently. I guess I don't know how I feel about him, I just know I have to make things right."

"Okay then, you can dive here on the couch while I dive in my room. Did you get a copy of GGO?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's get started."

Suguha put on her Amusphere and calmly laid down on the couch. Once she was comfortable, Suguha let her eyes to close.

"Link start!"

* * *

Upon arriving at the setup area, she quickly entered her preferred settings and converted her account. Suguha had thought ahead to inform Lady Sakuya of this endeavor. She approved of this mission whole-heartedly, especially since Sakuya had been busy "negotiating" with Eugene and wanted no interruptions for the day.

Once Suguha spawned at the central hub, she took a second to take in her avatar's appearance. Her hair was blonde but had the same length as she did in RL. She was wearing an olive green tank top with tan cargo pants and honey brown boots.

Suguha wasn't the only one taking in her avatars appearance. Suddenly she was receiving numerous cat-calls from the players in her area.

'Vrmmo players are all the same.'

Moving away from the crowds she was attracting. Leafa spotted an avatar down the block bearing a striking resemblance to shino's in ALO.

"Shino-san, is that you?"

"Hey Sugu-chan. You look sort of like your ALO avatar."

"I could say the same for you."

"Are you ready to find your boyfriend?"

"Not you too."

"Just teasing ha-ha. My squad just sent me a pm; he's trapped in a fire fight at the rundown metropolis. We need to get to him fast. Let's get you some gear pronto."

"But I only have 1000 credits. How much will I be able to get with that?"

"Not much. But don't worry; I'll cover you."

"Really? Thanks Sinon, this means a lot to me."

"Don't thank me just yet; I've got to walk you through how the game plays and believe me it's not easy. Follow me!"

* * *

"You know, I'm not surprised you went with the same setup as Kazuto, though the shielding and smoke grenades should definitely make things easier."

"What can I say; I'm a swordsman through and through."

As the two girls rode on a motorbike towards what Sinon's squad mates described as a warzone, Leafa was ready and focused. Her hand was firmly placed on her green photon sword. Sinon informed her that there was a steep penalty for being PK'd when you have a bounty. Depending on how high it was players would be forced to sit out any form of bounty-hunting to prevent the bounty placing's from getting out of hand. This also goes for those who fail to complete a bounty. And since most of Recon's time was spent Bounty hunting, windows of reaching him afterwards would be difficult at best.

The two warriors pulled up at an abandoned apartment, greeted by the sound of gunfire and explosions. Upon entering into the first floor, they spotted several foot soldiers held up by the windows releasing suppressive fire.

"Sinon, it's about time you got here, who's your friend."

"She's here to help Dyne. What's the situation?"

"Recon's holding up in the 3 story building across from us. But there's rifleman on the 5 story building right behind it. We can't make a push to get to him but they can't enter the building from anywhere but the front. And with us on the ground level, we're at a stalemate."

"Guys come take a look at this!"

Ginrou hands Sinon a pair of binoculars; she sees a group of shotguners preparing what looked like grappling hook guns. They fired the devices and successfully zip lined to the roof of the middle building.

"This isn't good."

"Listen up, Sinon get on the roof and provide me with some cover. Ginrou and Dyne, keep up the suppressive fire. I'm going in."

"Gotta love a woman who takes charge."

"Leafa-Chan, remember what I told you. Use your pistol to get in close and keep your eyes open."

"Don't worry Sinon, I can handle this."

* * *

Bursting through the front door, Leafa tossed her smoke grenades into the street before charging forwards. Sinon quickly took out two of the rifleman on top of the building while Dyne managed to pick off 2 of the boarding shotgunners.

The green swordsman was able to successful enter the building. The middle hallway had two smg users blocking the stairway. Seeing the prediction lines, she quickly dodged the bullets before slashing off their limbs with her sword. She couldn't block as many bullets as well as her brother could, but the shields helped compensate for that.

Once she made it up the stairs, Leafa took some cover as two shotgunners were roaming through the hallways. She entered a room adjacent the hallway, when suddenly she found a blade placed against her neck.

"Don't move."

"Wait… Nagata-Kun? Is that you?"

"How do you know my name? Who are you?"

She slowly turned to meet his gaze.

"It's me, Suguha. I've come to get you."

"Wha… Leafa-Chan? What are you doing here?"

"We've got to talk, but let's get out of here first; any ideas?"

"That depends, how many tangos did you see outside?"

"How many what?"

"Ugh… how many enemy players did you see?"

"I saw two of them; both with shotguns."

"Okay, follow my lead."

**A/N- happy belated birthday Code-Emperor07! Stay tuned for the epilogue, it's the penultimate chapter for these two.**


	4. Gamma

**Part 4: Gamma**

"Hey morons, catch me if you can!"

As Recon said this, he ran towards the two shotgunners at the end of the hallway. Their prediction lines were lining up on him.

Before they could get a shot off, he entered an intersecting hallway. They quickly gave chase to the fleeing hitman. But as they entered the hallway Recon went into, what they couldn't see was Leafa in Recon's distortion cloak.

With two swift blows from her photon sword, Leafa decapitated both of them with ease.

"Well that takes care of them. Now we got to get out of here."

"And I know exactly how we're going to do it."

Leafa wasn't sure what Recon was thinking of until she noticed what he was looking at. The two shotgunners had left behind their grappling hooks. She wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of zip lining from building to building but with the looming threat of reinforcements, Leafa had no choice.

"Longshot it's ghost, I need an open window on level 2 of your current 20!"

Once Sinon got the message, she had Ginrou run up to do it. He quickly smashed a window with the stock of his gun and used a flashlight to signal that their escape route was ready.

When Recon saw it, he fired the grappling hook just a bit above the window and tied his end of the rope to the only thing in the room thick enough to support them; the wooden frame of a queen sized bed with two mattresses

"Hold on tight and don't let go Leafa-chan."

"Don't worry, I won't…."

Deciding to not distract himself on the implications of what she just said, which was hard in itself with her arms wrapped around him firmly. he gripped the T-bar as hard as possible while they swung across the street. Luckily for them, there was a bit of incline between the second floor of their building and the second floor of the one with their comrades.

But while it provided them some forward momentum, it didn't make the ride any less terrifying, especially with a flurry of bullets swirling past them.

Upon crashing onto the floor of the room Ginrou indicated, the two of them winced at the sudden impact, but were glad to be alive none the less.

"You sure have balls kid, let's get you two out of here."

* * *

The ride back to the central hub had been cheerful. Recon recalled to everyone how he managed to hold off dozens of hired guns before they showed up. As he recalled these bloody tales, Leafa couldn't help but noticed that Recon seemed genuinely happy. The way he interacted with Sinon and Ginrou and Dyne reminded her of how she felt when she was hanging out with her brothers friends.

'_So this is why he left…'_

Once they got back, Sinon and her squad headed off to resupply, leaving Leafa and Recon to themselves.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Back there, your expression was really bright; I haven't seen you smile and chat like that since before I went on a break. So tell me, where was this side of you when I came back?"

"...What?"

"The Nagata who's been avoiding me the last 2 days is not the Nagata I know. I understand why you feel the way you do but it's not within your nature to hide it. You always wore your heart on your sleeve but that changed and I want to know why!"

A tense silence fell upon Recon. She had a point; he wasn't one for bottling his feelings, so why start now?

"You said you understand why I feel the way I do, but do you really expect me to believe that? Do you really know what it feels like when the person you want the most wants nothing to do with you? You can't know how I feel when you refuse to let me in every chance you get. For the longest time, I just wanted you to be happy. The reason I got into ALO was to help you get over whatever it was that was bothering you. But I've come to realize that after getting so little back in return, I was doing things for the wrong reasons. I wanted to be happy for myself, and for a while here in GGO, I was starting to feel that way. Me and my squad made jokes, hung out and had a good time pulling off jobs. But deep down, it just reminded me more of what I couldn't have with you! And as much as i knew i never i had a chance, I can't help but feel...angry."

Now it was Leafa's turn to be struck with silence as she came to realize something; he understands her more then he realizes. the scene that had unfolded mirrored the confrontation she had with kazuto almost to a tee, only the roles had been reversed and Recon was the one spilling his guts to her. She just couldn't find it in her to fault him for something he wasn't told about, so now was as good a time of letting the cat out of the bag as ever.

"Kirito is actually my brother Kazuto... Kazuto Kirigaya."

"What?"

"Before he first showed up in ALO, he was one of the 10,000 people trapped in Sword Art Online for 2 years. But before that, we were growing apart when he found that we're not actually siblings but cousins. I longed for the days where we were close and did everything together, and when he finally got out and made amends with me, those feelings grew into something else. But when I found out his heart belonged to someone else, I tried to move on and find someone else. And when I did, that person was also my brother. From that point on I decided not to let my heart get broken again, or at least that was the plan until you confessed to me. I didn't see it then but now I realized that I was afraid that if I let you in, I would scare you away. But keeping you at a distance ended up doing the same thing. In the fight not to endure another heartbreak, I ended up breaking yours, despite you making it abundantly clear that it belongs to me."

A single tear fell down her cheek; Leafa's inner walls had come tumbling down. Once again she was in a position of total vulnerability.

Suddenly she felt the warmth of Recon's palm as he wiped her tears away.

"It still does..."

"Huh?"

"If you think there's anything you could of told me that would make me abandon you for real, then you have a lot more to learn about who I am."

As these words softly escaped his lips, Leafa felt nothing but happiness. She embraced Recon in a firm hug and held him close with the intention of never letting him go.

"I'm willing to learn more if you are too."

"You already know I am Leafa-chan."

In a move that surprised recon as he thought the day would never come where this would happen, Leafa wrapped her arms around him with a hug. As he returend the embrace, Recon felt a weight being lifted from his heart.

"By the way, what was it you wanted to tell me while I was away?"

"Oh yeah, I'll tell you. But we need to meet up IRL in order for me to tell you."

"Okay, can you meet me at the dicey cafe tomorrow? I'll text you the address."

"Sure, and tell Lady Sakuya I'll be back by tomorrow. GGO has been fun but to be honest I miss ALO."

"That's funny, I was just starting to warm up to this cyberpunk atmosphere. I'll tell her as soon as I log off. I'll see you tomorrow Nagata-Kun."

"See you later Suguha-chan."

* * *

After having to spend the night at Shino's place, Suguha woke up bright and early and made her way to the dicey café.

Upon entering, she was surprised to find that Nagata was already there with two cups of coffee.

"Agil here says you like your coffee with milk and two sugars so here you go."

"Oh, thanks."

"No problem Sugu- chan."

After taking a couple of sips, she decides to break the ice.

"So now can you tell me?"

"Okay, I guess you've waited long enough. We're going to be graduating in a couple weeks so I got you a graduation present."

"Really! What is it? Where is it?"

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

Suguha did as she was told. She suddenly felt two slips of paper grace her hands.

"Take a look."

As she saw what was now in her hands, the air from Suguha's lungs had vanished. She was staring at two tickets to the Kanto Kendo exhibition. These were hard to come by, as all the kendo enthusiasts wanted to see the top experts go at it and get a chance to see them in person. This must have cost Nagata a pretty penny.

"I don't know if this qualifies as a first date, but I would really like for you to come with me."

"Nagata… I…"

But that was all she could say, because words could not adequately describe what she felt for him in that moment. So she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. In what could only be described as a moment of pure bliss, Suguha felt as though time had stopped. She wanted to savor this moment for as long as she could, because now she is no longer afraid to love.

"Alright guys, to celebrate our mutual destruction of yesterday's final, drinks are on…"

As Kazuto was about to finish saying this as he, Asuna, Rika and Silica entered the dicey Café, they briefly caught Suguha and Nagata breaking their kiss before erupting with blushes.

"Well it's about time Sugu-chan."

"Uggh… Oni-Chan!"

**A/N- there you have. Hope you guys enjoyed the ride! Tell me what you guys think. A sequel is not out of the realm of possibility but I'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading.**


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